Hoggy's antiques, memorabilia going to auction

Enlarge ImageRequest to buy this photoMARLA/KUHLMAN/THIWEEKNEWSThis 1947 Farmall tractor, which once was suspended above tables in the dining area of the Johnstown Road restaurant in Gahanna, will be among the items available for bid online.

When Harris provided notice that Gahanna's Hoggy's would close Jan. 12, it was one of the busiest weeks because people wanted to have their last supper there, he said.

"I can't tell you how many people said, 'When I used to come here ...'All the artifacts mean something to them," he said. "Many people took pictures with kids on the saddle sitting on the sawhorse."

That saddle and sawhorse will be two of the items in the antiques and memorabilia auction that is scheduled to begin March 15 and will continue to April 13. The online auction also will feature the 1947 Farmall tractor that was suspended from the ceiling of the spacious 8,000-square-foot restaurant for almost two decades.

"The barn (building) was built around the tractor," Harris said.

He said many of the restaurant's collectibles were found at flea markets.

"There are all kinds of crazy things," Harris said. "There's a Hoggy's pig upstairs that looks over the dining room. There are plows that hook up to horses, old pots and items from the late 1800s and 1900s."

Among the items for auction will be the towering windmill that stands outside the building. Also for sale will be antique saddles, horse tack, a Mona Lisa with a pig snout, farm tools, cast-iron pigs, a Radio Flyer wagon, a 55-gallon Coke cooler, a pig weathervane and vintage signs of various shapes and sizes.

Harris said he anticipates one of the highest-selling items will be a vintage Texaco sign.

The auction for the collectibles ends April 13, when the second auction begins. The second auction will offer the restaurant's booths, tables, coolers and kitchenware and will continue until April 20.

Tonya Perry, Hoggy's catering and sales consultant, has worked for the company for almost 25 years.

"At Gahanna, one of our servers worked there since it opened in 1995," she said. "She had people come in just for her. I've been a part of it so long that I'm attached to all the stores. We have a couple who met at Hoggy's. There were many who went there for first dates. Those are the stories we hear."